New Player

[HBrock25]

Hello all,

I’m new to the site and to harping (and by new I mean my first harp was delivered about an hour ago). It’s a 22 string with full levers but I’m encountering a problem – the leavers are not very sucessful. In the low to mid range, if I engage the levers fully the tuning is out – this isn’t a major problem for setting the harp in a key and having no accidentals because I can just not fully engage them, however in the upper register, the top 10 or so strings, no matter how little I put the lever on, the strings are tuned up far more than a semi-tone. The top few are going up nearly a tone in pitch and it’s utterly unplayable.

I read elsewhere on the forum of someone else having similar problems and the general response seemed to be to to alter the position of the levers, however (and this may just be my ignorance) I can’t see any way to

[kay-lister]

Michael,

I would send it back and DEFINATELY S H O P around for another harp.

[alice-freeman]

I agree with Kay. Send this harp back as soon as possible. The problems you are experiencing will probably be only the first of many with these “rosewood” harps.

A brand new harp may need regulating after 6 months or so as the wood and neck adjust to the tension of the strings, but it should not be required for a new harp right out of the box. It is highly unlikely you will ever be able to adjust the levers properly and drilling new holes is not the way regulating is done.

Try to find another harp player or teacher who would be willing to help you locate a more desirable instrument. There are many UK harpists on this Forum, the Yahoo HarpList and the Yahoo VirtualHarpCircle.

— Alice in windy Wyoming

[rod-c]

Michael:

First, welcome to this message board. There is a vast amount of collective wisdom here, so you have come to the right place.

[Michael Longden]

I will be contacting the website tomorrow to organise a return (fortunately they also pay the cost of returning the items so I haven’t lost any money).

I looked into renting a harp initially but the only places I found that were either close enough to where I live, or were willing to deliver (I can’t drive), had minimum rental periods and prices that made it cheaper to buy a lap harp and try that out first (which i suppose should have been a warning sign). None of my local music shops had any useful information on where I could get one and the nearest teacher to my current house was well over an hour away. On the upside I’m a music student and there is a classical harpist on the course who also plays celtic harps so when summer holidays are over I can have a chat with her and get some more advice.

[sherry-lenox]

An excellent idea! No doubt the person who is already playing will have some good connections for you that can help you find rentals or even good used harps.

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